Most Common Computer Terms and Acronyms
Computer Terms and Acronyms: A - B
ACL: Access Control List
ADC: Analog-to-Digital Converter
ADF: Automatic Document Feeder
ADSL: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AGP: Accelerated Graphics Port
AIFF: Audio Interchange File Format
AIX: Advanced Interactive Executive
ANSI: American National Standards Institute
API: Application Program Interface
ARP: Address Resolution Protocol
ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASP: Active Server Page or Application Service Provider
ATA: Advanced Technology Attachment
ATM: Asynchronous Transfer Mode
BASIC: Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
Bcc: Blind Carbon Copy
BIOS: Basic Input/Output System
Blob: Binary Large Object
BMP: Bitmap
Computer Terms and Acronyms: C - D
CAD: Computer-Aided Design
Cc: Carbon Copy
CCD: Charged Coupled Device
CD: Compact Disc
CD-R: Compact Disc Recordable
CD-ROM: Compact Disc Read-Only Memory
CD-RW: Compact Disc Re-Writable
CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access
CGI: Common Gateway Interface
CISC: Complex Instruction Set Computing
CMOS: Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
CMYK: Cyan Magenta Yellow Black
CPA: Cost Per Action
CPC: Cost Per Click
CPL: Cost Per Lead
CPM: Cost Per 1,000 Impressions
CPS: Classroom Performance System
CPU: Central Processing Unit
CRM: Customer Relationship Management
CRT: Cathode Ray Tube
CSS: Cascading Style Sheet
CTP: Composite Theoretical Performance
CTR: Click-Through Rate
DAC: Digital-to-Analog Converter
DBMS: Database Management System
DDR: Double Data Rate
DDR2: Double Data Rate 2
DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DIMM: Dual In-Line Memory Module
DLL: Dynamic Link Library
DMA: Direct Memory Access
DNS: Domain Name System
DOS: Disk Operating System
DPI: Dots Per Inch
DRAM: Dynamic Random Access Memory
DRM: Digital Rights Management
DSL: Digital Subscriber Line
DSLAM: Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer
DTD: Document Type Definition
DV: Digital Video
DVD: Digital Versatile Disc
DVD+R: Digital Versatile Disc Recordable
DVD+RW: Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable
DVD-R: Digital Versatile Disc Recordable
DVD-RAM: Digital Versatile Disc Random Access Memory
DVD-RW: Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable
DVI: Digital Video Interface
DVR: Digital Video Recorder
Computer Terms and Acronyms: E - H
ECC: Error Correction Code
EDI: Electronic Data Interchange
EPS: Encapsulated PostScript
EUP: Enterprise Unified Process
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
FIFO: First In, First Out
FiOS: Fiber Optic Service
FPU: Floating Point Unit
FSB: Frontside Bus
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format
GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out
GIS: Geographic Information Systems
GPS: Global Positioning System
GPU: Graphics Processing Unit
GUI: Graphical User Interface
GUID: Globally Unique Identifier
HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface
HDTV: High Definition Televsion
HDV: High-Definition Video
HFS: Hierarchical File System
HSF: Heat Sink and Fan
HTML: Hyper-Text Markup Language
HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol
HTTPS: HyperText Transport Protocol Secure
Computer Terms and Acronyms: I - L
I/O: Input/Output
ICANN: Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers
ICF: Internet Connection Firewall
ICMP: Internet Control Message Protocol
ICS: Internet Connection Sharing
IDE: Integrated Device Electronics or Integrated Development Environment
IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IGP: Integrated Graphics Processor
IM: Instant Message
IMAP: Internet Message Access Protocol
InterNIC: Internet Network Information Center
IP: Internet Protocol
IPX: Internetwork Packet Exchange
IRC: Internet Relay Chat
IRQ: Interrupt Request
ISA: Industry Standard Architecture
iSCSI: Internet Small Computer Systems Interface
ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network
ISO: International Organization for Standardization
ISP: Internet Service Provider
IT: Information Technology
IVR: Interactive Voice Response
JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group
JRE: Java Runtime Environment
JSP: Java Server Page
Kbps: Kilobits Per Second
KVM Switch: Keyboard, Video, and Mouse Switch
LAN: Local Area Network
LCD: Liquid Crystal Display
LDAP: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
LIFO: Last In, First Out
LPI: Lines Per Inch
LUN: Logical Unit Number
Computer Terms and Acronyms: M - O
MAC Address: Media Access Control Address
MANET: Mobile Ad Hoc Network
Mbps: Megabits Per Second
MCA: Micro Channel Architecture
MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIPS: Million Instructions Per Second
MP3: MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3
MPEG: Moving Picture Experts Group
MTU: Maximum Transmission Unit
NAT: Network Address Translation
NetBIOS: Network Basic Input/Output System
NIC: Network Interface Card
NNTP: Network News Transfer Protocol
NOC: Network Operations Center
NTFS: New Technology File System
OASIS: Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
OCR: Optical Character Recognition
ODBC: Open Database Connectivity
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
OLAP: Online Analytical Processing
OLE: Object Linking and Embedding
OOP: Object-Oriented Programming
OSPF: Open Shortest Path First
Computer Terms and Acronyms: P - R
P2P: Peer To Peer
PC: Personal Computer
PCB: Printed Circuit Board
PCI: Peripheral Component Interconnect
PCI-X: Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended
PCMCIA: Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
PDA: Personal Digital Assistant
PDF: Portable Document Format
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
PIM: Personal Information Manager
PMU: Power Management Unit
PNG: Portable Network Graphic
POP3: Post Office Protocol
PPC: Pay Per Click
PPGA: Plastic Pin Grid Array
PPI: Pixels Per Inch
PPL: Pay Per Lead
PPM: Pages Per Minute
PPP: Point to Point Protocol
PPTP: Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
PRAM: Parameter Random Access Memory
PS/2: Personal System/2
QBE: Query By Example
RAID: Redundant Array of Independent Disks
RAM: Random Access Memory
RDF: Resource Description Framework
RDRAM: Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory
RGB: Red Green Blue
RISC: Reduced Instruction Set Computing
ROM: Read-Only Memory
RPC: Remote Procedure Call
RPM: Revenue Per 1,000 Impressions
RSS: RDF Site Summary
RTE: Runtime Environment
RTF: Rich Text Fomat
RUP: Rational Unified Process
Computer Terms and Acronyms: S - T
SAN: Storage Area Network
SATA: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment
SCSI: Small Computer System Interface
SD: Secure Digital
SDRAM: Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
SDSL: Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
SIMM: Single In-Line Memory Module
SKU: Stock Keeping Unit
SLI: Scalable Link Interface
SMART: Self-Monitoring Analysis And Reporting Technology
SMB: Server Message Block
SMS: Short Message Service
SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SNMP: Simple Network Management Protocol
SO-DIMM: Small Outline Dual In-Line Memory Module
SOA: Service Oriented Architecture
SOAP: Simple Object Access Protocol
SQL: Structured Query Language
SRAM: Static Random Access Memory
sRGB: Standard Red Green Blue
SSH: Secure Shell
SSID: Service Set Identifier
SSL: Secure Sockets Layer
TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TFT: Thin-Film Transistor
TIFF: Tagged Image File Format
TTL: Time To Live
TWAIN: Toolkit Without An Informative Name
Computer Terms and Acronyms: U - Z
UDDI: Universal Description Discovery and Integration
UDP: User Datagram Protocol
UML: Unified Modeling Language
UNC: Universal Naming Convention
UPnP: Universal Plug and Play
UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply
URI: Uniform Resource Identifier
URL: Uniform Resource Locator
USB: Universal Serial Bus
VCI: Virtual Channel Identifier
VFAT: Virtual File Allocation Table
VGA: Video Graphics Array
VLB: VESA Local Bus
VLE: Virtual Learning Environment
VoIP: Voice Over Internet Protocol
VPI: Virtual Path Identifier
VPN: Virtual Private Network
VRAM: Video Random Access Memory
VRML: Virtual Reality Modeling Language
WAIS: Wide Area Information Server
WAN: Wide Area Network
WEP: Wired Equivalent Privacy
Wi-Fi: Wireless Fidelity
WPA: Wi-Fi Protected Access
WWW: World Wide Web
XHTML: Extensible Hypertext Markup Language
XML: Extensible Markup Language
XSLT: Extensible Style Sheet Language Transformation
Y2K: Year 2000
ZIF: Zero Insertion Force